This invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing multiple optical fibers.
An optical fiber cable may contain several hundred fibers. Before a cable is installed, it is generally necessary to test the cable. The tests that are carried out include attenuation tests. It may be necessary to test the attenuation of several fibers of the cable several times at different temperatures in order to determine the manner in which time and temperature influence the extent to which an optical signal is attenuated on passing through a fiber of the cable. Each test involves launching light into the fiber at one end of the cable and measuring the intensity with which light is emitted from the fiber at its opposite end. In an attenuation measurement instrument that is currently in use, an operator loads the two ends of a fiber to be tested into the measurement instrument and positions the ends of the fiber relative to the launch and receive optics of the instrument. When the attenuation measurement has been made, the operator unloads the fiber and loads a second fiber. This is continued until all the fibers to be tested at that particular temperature have been tested. The test may be repeated several hours later at the same temperature. The temperature is then changed, and the operation is repeated. Accordingly, attenuation testing of an optical fiber cable is time-consuming and labor intensive.